Naples belonged to the county of Neapolis, ruled by Count Joannis of the House of Spartanus, a Greek nobleman with a long family history who had ruled Neapolis for more than three centuries and was still firmly in power.

This time, Maurice and Mephistopheles were helped instead of being attacked by the guards here, because William, Duke of Apulia, and Guy Mar, Duke of Sanolé. Advance. Sanolé's blessing, if it were not for the pressure of the two dukes, the Count of Joannis would not have helped Maurice them.

And the present situation did not allow the Earl of Nepolis to oscillate between the Normans and the Holy See, because his fiefdom was surrounded by the domains of the powerful Dukes of Apulia and Sanolé, and had no direct land connection with the Papal dependencies, and was vulnerable to attacks by the Normans who seemed to them to be aggressive.

The reason why Duke Sanolet helped the Normans and Maurice's mercenary group was that in addition to the large bribes of the Normans, Morris, who was also a Lombard with the Duke of Sanolé, also helped a lot, if it weren't for his recommendation, the Normans would have to spend more money if they wanted to impress Duke Sanolet to help, at least neutrally.

Maurice got off the boat and stood on a high vantage point to see Mount Vesuvius, with a monastery, a cathedral and a castle on top of the mountain.

Looking further afield, Maurice can see Pompeii, 20 kilometers away, an ancient city built in Roman times that is still relatively well preserved today.

Maurice withdrew his gaze from afar, and he could see a quaint and magnificent castle, the egg city "Ovo Castle", it is said that an ancient Latin poet was a male witch with powerful powers, and he hid a magic egg on the support point of the entire castle, claiming that if the egg shattered, the castle would sink, leading to the destruction of the whole of Naples.

In ancient times, it must have been a military fortress, and it is said that it was the villa of a Roman general and the penal colony of Roman emperors.

Morris and his party disembarked at the clean and beautiful Santa Lucia Bay, the wealthy neighborhood of Naples, and his soldiers were stationed not far away, so that they could not endure the crowded, cramped, and chaotic houses of the inhabitants of Naples.

Naples was famous even in the Middle Ages, when the local consuls promised to govern it, but with little success. Graffiti on the walls, garbage and sewage on the streets, buildings in disrepair and mottled buildings.

Many people are smuggled in from Africa, the Kingdom of Romania, etc. They had no source of livelihood, and the clothes and household utensils that the Italians had discarded haphazardly, the Romanians picked up and sold on the spot, and the blacks wandered the streets in groups, which was also an important cause of the mess in Naples, which increased the social instability.

Now they don't have to put up with this at all, and they can comfortably recuperate and refresh themselves in the beautiful and clean rich area.

Maurice and the others did not have long to repair in Naples, and a day later, they packed up and set off again, heading for the Benevento archdiocese of the battlefield.

This is a newly established archdiocesan district, where the former lord Pandorf was located. Advance. After Capua's tragic death, he was removed from the Normans by the Normans. Taken from the hands of the Capua.

At that time, this method of the Normans attracted the criticism and dissatisfaction of the Holy See, and under the mediation of the Holy See, Benevento was established as an archdiocese by the Duke of Apulia, whose archdiocese bishop was agreed upon by the Duke of Apulia and the Holy See.

However, it was not long before the Holy See became dissatisfied again, and they wanted to take the archdiocesan and make it a vassal of the Holy See.

As Bishop of Benevento, Ouldlet, who had long been dissatisfied with Norman rule, was dissatisfied with the use of paper by the Normans in the vast Italian lands, and regarded it as a great disgrace.

With the intention of the Holy See, the Holy See and Benevento came together, and in order to get Benevento to break away from the Duchy of Apulia and join the Roman states, they declared war together with the Duke of Apuria, and thus began the war.

Until now, the battlefield war had been confined to the vicinity of the Benevento archdiocese, and neither the Holy See nor the Apulian side wanted to expand the war, and the two sides had a tacit agreement to narrow the scope of the war to the Benevento area, rather than to burn the war to their respective core territories, which did not benefit anyone, and the command gave the enemy an opportunity.

As the half-brother of William, Duke of Apulia, Caesar, a powerful faction in the south, and the ruler of the Cazarotan and Sicilian regions. Morality. Ottwell, he was the commander of this war.

In the past two days, Caesar's brows have never relaxed, not only because the reinforcements promised by William have not been delayed, but more importantly, the Holy See has sent more than half of its elite papal guards.

Caesar, who participated in the formation of the Papal Guard, knew very well how terrifying this papal team of up to 1,000 people was, and the equipment worn by the papal guard, including full-body plate armor, chain mail, swords and halberds, was imported from Normandy, so their equipment was no worse than that of his Knight William.

Coupled with the strict battlefield efficiency of this army, the Duke of Apulia and Caesar could only compete with their respective personal guards and the elite of their respective nobles.

It was precisely because of this powerful papal guard in their hands that they suddenly broke out, and the pressure on them from the Holy Roman Empire was greatly reduced, so they dared to declare war on the powerful Normans.

Now Caesar relied on his superior command and combat ability and military ability to rely on inferior forces to tie the opponent, but with the addition of the Papal Guard, the balance of war is likely to tip in the direction of the Holy See.

Without the slightest hesitation, Caesar again asked for reinforcements from the Duke of Apulia, his brother William.

Caesar had good luck this time, as he invited the Duke of Apulia himself and his elite knights, and at the same time, the first reinforcements sent by William arrived in the port of Naples, about sixty kilometers from the diocese of Benevento.

Judging from the summary of various information, most of the reinforcements sent by William were mercenaries, and their combat effectiveness was acceptable, but the most surprising among them was Baron Mephistopheles and the hundreds of Norman knights he led.

In Caesar's heart, 3,000 mercenaries were even inferior to this 100 Norman knights, as a former Norman adventurer, he knew very well that the power of Norman knights was enough to destroy ten times or more enemy troops.

Five days later, Caesar finally met William's Italian mercenary leader, Maurice. Welf met well in Benevento.